


Mission Log File Extensions

by littlesolo



Series: Black Hill Prompts Collection II [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-05
Updated: 2014-12-22
Packaged: 2018-02-24 06:46:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 38
Words: 19,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2572004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlesolo/pseuds/littlesolo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Additional pages added to the mission logs because the small box and handful of lines on the ordinary form just wasn't enough to explain what happened.  </p>
<p>-OR-</p>
<p>Continued Black Hill prompts</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Anastasia

**Author's Note:**

> Natasha likes classical music, the rhythm hums just beneath her skin, her body itching to paint the air - other times, Natasha can't listen to it. Her skin crawls and her head bursts with memories, real or fake, she doesn't know.

Contrary to what most think, she hates the movie Anastasia. Based on historical events. A Russian princess who can’t remember who she was? Did _no one_ wonder why? Voiced by popular actors and vivid animated characters doesn’t change the fact that they had been searching for a Romanova. Had Red Room always taken from her bloodline?  

The song Once Upon a December was both beautiful and haunting and reminded Natasha too much of Russia and the fact that it had once been home. She doesn’t know it she had siblings anymore but some of the girls, the younger ones or even the older ones, they were all broken in some way or soon to be, but some did the best they could to look after each other.

There was a time when Natasha had forgotten. Forgotten everything, who she was, who she could trust, she’d never really known her past anyway. One would think that ignorance would be bliss but there had always been questions and now there were more. She hadn’t even known what she was supposed to ask anymore.  

She really hated that movie. Where something as simple as a music box played the beautiful haunting song. A ballerina music box at that. Red Room wasn't even trying to hide it's involvement but flaunting it with exquisite craftsmanship and a tune to lure their dancers home. That's how the story went wasn't it? And Natasha couldn't deny that the first time she heard it, there was a certain pull that drew her in. That wanted to know more about the song. But then she'd remembered and come to her senses. Maybe that's what the song was... a pied piper of sorts to call them back when they went astray.

What was HYDRA's phrase? ' _I am happy to comply?_ ' How clever, Red Room disguised theirs in something that any normal person would see as just a cute trinket. Even the lyrics seem mocking. The dancing figures had been themselves and there had never been bears or safety or warmth not even when they returned home. Not a true safety. Embers were very familiar but not from memories anyone would want to remember. _Things my heart used to know_... what was that saying about curiosity and cats? But that was something they didn't have to fear because they were Mother Russia's dancers and had learned her most important lessons. Love was for children and mercy for cowards.  

Natasha wonders how many girls have shown up over the years wanting to see if they were the missing Romanova link only to find themselves in Red Room's clutches. DNA had long ago proved she was that link, if they wanted the title, they could have it, it's done her no favors. Long ago, she wondered if it was due to her lineage that they had taken her. Not too long after that she stopped wondering. It just didn't matter.  

But Maria always brought her out of the mood it set her in. It was hard to be depressed with Doris Day singing about Blue Skies. Maria had been a fan of the music before Steve was found but that may have been some of Peggy’s influence. That was just one of them. Maria’s playlist was endless. It covered everything from Bob Dylan to Mars Volta. And even better yet, Maria was always up for being her dance partner.

And everything that song had ever teased at, Maria made real. Maria's arms were her safe spot and they kept her warm when the Russian shivers of bitter cold seemed to be closing in on her again. Love is for children, the love she thought she knew. Maria had shown her that there are many types and she was still learning. But this? This love had her returning to her new home and that was where ever Maria was.  


	2. Missing Maria Hill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the entire week, Natasha thought Maria was dead.

One thing Maria had not anticipated was being punched in the jaw.

She had been with Phil for the past week and as much as she loved the old base and seeing Melinda and the rest of the team, she wanted to go home to Natasha. She’d been whisked away and then they’d gone dark.  

She’d helped in whatever ways she could while Phil sorted his alien juiced head out. She also helped Skye deal with what might have been the worst example of breaking the news to someone ever. By the way, I think your an alien?  

Still, when the Bus landed on Stark Tower’s roof, the last thing she expected was to be hit by an angry Russian.  

"What the hell Nat?!" shouts Maria who reeled back at the force of the blow and had been caught by Melinda and Tripp. Jemma and Skye came rushing to her side as well. Then Maria notices the circles under Natasha’s eyes and the tear tracks.  

Natasha comes at her again but this time her arms wrap around her and Maria feels her tears on her neck. 

"We thought you were dead. That HYDRA had gotten you. Fury couldn’t find you either and Phil didn’t answer" murmurs Natasha, not easing her hold. If anything, she’s pulling Maria closer. Maria does her best to turn towards Phil in Natasha’s hold.  

“ _You didn’t **tell** her?_ " yells Maria tightening her arms Natasha, who is nearly shaking with relief.  

"It was extreme dark conditions, Maria" says Phil, as if that was all the explanation that was needed. Thing is, that only worked if you were Fury, and Phil didn’t come close.  

“ _I don’t care! If my death has to be faked or I’m brought back, if **anything** happens to me, **SHE’S THE FIRST TO KNOW!**_ " shouts Maria. Melinda puts an hand on Maria’s shoulder and gives her a look that says she’ll take care of it. That look has Fitz, Jemma, and Skye all taking a big step back and makes Phil uneasy. He really didn’t need to worry though. Natasha stepped away from Maria’s arms and gave Phil a full force blow to his face. He crumpled to the landing pad. Huh. Fury had still been standing when Melinda had seen Natasha punch him.  

"Work related stress, I’m sure" said Tony as he stepped over Phil to escort Maria and Natasha inside. The look he sent Maria said that Natasha had nearly broken at the news of her presumed death. Later, when Natasha had fallen asleep with her head in Maria’s lap and her arms around her waist, Maria opened the email Tony had sent her earlier.  

He explained that her tracker must have been blocked in the old bunker because they couldn’t get a read on it anywhere. It was that last shred of hope that Natasha had been clinging to. That maybe Maria was somewhere it couldn’t be read or in something like that weird space rip that Jane Foster had found in the UK. After a week though, that hope was dwindling and he is extremely grateful she turned up both well and when she did.  

Maria couldn’t believe this had happened. After everything hat had happened they had been each other’s only real and constant source of support. They had no secrets from each other. Her jaw hurt but not nearly as badly as the feeling of betrayal Natasha must have felt watching her just walk off that plane. She’d fix this with Natasha.  

As for Phil, Bruce and Tony would have to see what they could do with his face. Melinda would take it from there.


	3. Missing Maria Hill - Natasha's POV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A continuation from Natasha's perspective that ends right before the other one begins

They had dinner plans.

Sort of.

Pancakes at Denny’s still counted.

But when it turned into a midnight pancake run, although they’d done those before, they involved more of Natasha coaxing Maria into clothes and then a booth. Never a meet up. Natasha had checked her phone more times than a fangirl over some actor or band in the last few hours.  

Nothing. No text, no messages, no rants about idiocy or pleas for a plan of some sort to save her from what had to be a zombie apocalypse starting in the courthouse since no one had any brains and yet they all wanted a pound of her flesh. Nothing from Maria.  

It had been a long time since Natasha had felt this way. She was nervous and didn’t know what to do. So she called Clint. He came and managed to coax the situation from Natasha. She was stress eating her way through another stack of pancakes and milkshakes. Clint hadn’t seen her like this since after he and Phil had done her deprogramming and she was having nightmares. Her eyes were frantic and her hands were shaking. He paid her almost twenty buck tab and got her to Stark Tower fast.  

They had to act quickly and carefully. The Avengers went out and searched for Maria Hill as best as they could without raising attention or giving the media any hint that there was something wrong. Thor was the only one absent, which was unfortunate since they could have used Heimdall’s help to find her.  

Pepper stayed at the Tower with Tony who was coordinating everything. For all the hard times that Tony gave Maria, no one knew the pressures of her job quite like he did. Trying to hold together an increasingly unstable and unknown universe and keep people safe at the same time. SHIELD had it’s secrets because yes, a lot of the information was dangerous, but knowing didn’t make you safer and they were still trying to figure out how to protect one person let alone everyone on earth.  

Pepper kept an eye on Natasha. Natasha was one of the strongest women she knew, the other being Maria Hill. Over the course of the week Natasha became less and less responsive and more along the lines of catatonic. During the first few days, Pepper noticed Natasha fiddling with something on her wrist.

"What is that?" asked Pepper, bringing Natasha a simple sandwich. The Avenger hadn’t had much of an appetite lately.  

"It’s just a leather band. But it’s blue like Maria’s eyes. It was hard at first. Remembering that I had someone waiting for me when I got back. Not that I wasn’t always planning to come back, just….Maria was really mad when I came back hurt. So I got some cord and made it to remind me that there was a reason I was coming home. I just didn’t think Maria needed one too." Pepper had found it both sweet and sad and still didn’t know how to help. Natasha had made herself a nest in the middle of the couch and kept Maria’s stuffed creature in her arms at all times. By Wednesday she had stopped speaking.  

None of this made sense! If Maria had been in trouble, then she would have texted! She would have signaled! Something would be on fire or have blown up! Which meant that Maria wasn’t in trouble and just gone. But they had no secrets from each other! And everything had been going smoothly- well as smoothly as things could for people with their lives, so what had happened? Maria had agreed that should they ever break up, it would be face to face and with discussion and Maria kept her word. So what could have happened? Maria knew her and wouldn’t do this to her! She wouldn’t just leave, abandon her, she knew Natasha couldn’t forgive a betrayal like that. Not that she would kill her or anything, but they could never be a couple, be together, if she broke her trust like this.  

She already knew what the others thought. That’s why she was blocking them out. They were nothing but white noise to her right now. Still, she saw their glances. They’d already given up hope. It was the seventh day now and there was still no sign of Maria’s tracker. Even Fury was looking. He’d been Tony’s first call, thinking he might have needed Maria. It wasn’t a bad guess, but when Fury didn’t know he’d joined the hunt. From anyone else it might have seemed like an over reaction but Natasha was the most level headed of them all and Maria was known for blowing off all sorts of things but never Natasha. Not even Fury could get a hold of Coulson and that was also a concern.  

Until Phil’s bus landed on Stark Tower and Maria walked off the plane alive and well.


	4. People Watching Well, Person Watching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes when Natasha gets bored, she'd go people watching at the park. She doesn't know when it turned into - catching a glimpse of Maria when she goes on her morning and night runs (she even knows the days which Maria goes on which). She gets disappointed when Maria doesn't stick to her schedule (stupid Fury).

Even people watching to her some time to get used to . The dog walkers never really interested her and the people with children generally annoyed her. Not that children annoyed her but their parent's lack of attention or of safety. It’s hard looking at the world when you’ve seen too much. Done too much. Then Maria showed up.  

Where Natasha watched people to relax and ease the tension from her shoulders, Maria ran. Natasha didn’t see the point. Well, she did, but when she tried doing it for exercise she wound up running the same route over and over until her legs gave out or just kept going until she needed Clint to track her phone and pick her up. Actually, he’d needed to pick her up after she tired of her route as well. She simply became to focused in her thoughts and tried to out run them. So instead, she sat and she watched and only ran when it was after, to, or from something. It just worked best for everyone.  

It seemed to work for Maria though. She never looked nearly as burdened as her inbox would have you think she would be. Natasha caught her gaze wandering down Maria’s figure a few times and would have stopped herself, but then remembers she was here first. Maria had a commanding presence in any room and her figure only added to it. She was almost all muscle but she never flexed it. There was no need for her to display her strength like Steve or Thor. She wasn’t all that different from Natasha in that you wouldn’t see the blow coming. She wasn’t flashy or in constant need of praise. While she knew how important her role was to SHIELD, Natasha doubted she fully understood how important she was to everyone as well. While Phil Coulson was promoted and sent after things like Thor’s hammer, Maria stood by Fury’s side, probably mumbling to herself about something Fury had done (he’s always done something) or sharing an inside joke with their fearless leader.  

However, while Natasha often chose solitude and Maria often did the same, she had a feeling that Maria was still lonely. Natasha started to watch for the Assistant Director when she went on her runs. It turned out those were just her morning runs. Apparently she went on night runs too. After a few months Natasha found herself looking foreword to seeing Maria on her runs. It was nice to see someone having a life outside of work and a friend no less.  

She didn’t hide herself and was sure Maria had seen her on more than one occasion so she wasn’t too surprised when Maria sat down on the bench next to her.  

"New hobby?" asks Maria.  

"Clint told me to try it ages ago. Of course he was being sarcastic, but I find it relaxing after long days. Watching the people who don’t know everything we do, don’t need aliases, biggest worry is a mortgage payment or dinner that night."  

"So go buy a house and get a mortgage of your very own" says Maria as she bumps Natasha’s shoulder.  

"Oh and debt and bills? Why when stealing is so much fun and simpler?" replies Natasha.  

"When did watching me become enjoyable?"  

"Oh, for a while now. But for the record, I was here first and before it became a part of your route."  

They sit in a companionable silence for a while and then Natasha decides to walk Maria back home.  

The make plans for lunch the next day.


	5. Heir

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natalia Romanov is a Romanova.

It had started as drunken conversation at a get together at Tony’s. A discussion about the Romanova lineage had somehow become the topic of conversation. Not everyone was drunk. Not Bruce who offered to take her blood for a test.  

Natasha had Maria leaning against her legs but her arm was free to give her blood. It wasn’t until almost a week later that the results were ready, but Natasha knew.  

"Uh…Natasha…" started Tony.  

"I _know_ , Stark" interjected Natasha gently, saving Tony and Bruce from having to try and break the news.  

"Wait, know what? Are you saying Tasha’s _royalty_?" asks Clint, not following the unsaid conversation. Maria knew as well, but tightened her hold on Natasha’s hand.  

"A title won’t change anything" says Natasha leaning back into Maria’s side.  

"But shouldn’t someone know?" asks Pepper, among the rest of the Avengers gaping at her.  

"Red Room did genetic tests on me. They knew. If anyone could use it as a leverage they could against Russia, but instead they said nothing, The title is free to anyone who wants it, it’s not as if it’s helped me a great deal."  

"So if you had the chance, you wouldn’t rule?" asks Steve.  

"I’ve seen regimes rise and fall. I know how to make one superior to anything the world’s ever seen before. Thing is, no one would be happy. Not even me. So what good would it do?"  

"Wise words from someone I respect a great deal and is able to see what challenges she would face and still act in everyone else’s best interest. Not many would do the same" says Thor with a bow of his head.  

Natasha thinks that with all that she knows now, she’d be even less suited for any position of power. Maria understood Natasha’s reasons. Her only complaint was that she couldn’t use diplomatic immunity to get out of all her testimony. At least that was until Natasha pointed out that she’d likely be killed as a spy instead and that if it was really such a hassle Maria could take her up on her offer to get rid of them for her.


	6. A Shared Taste

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No matter what ice cream Natasha gets, she always steals a couple licks of Maria's cone, even if they have the same flavor.

It started when they first got together. Anyone who knows Washington DC, will tell you the heat in July and August is absolutely brutal. It had started with snow cones. They only came one way, three stripes of flavor- lemon, cherry, and raspberry which would all melt and become grape at the end. Still, Natasha wanted to makes sure Maria’s wasn’t colder or something.  

When they moved on to ice cream, at first Maria was a protective of her treat. It had been quite a while since she’d had such a simple indulgence without the cameras or a reporter or some politician or military officer bothering her. Her last indulgence had been Starbucks and that had wound up all down her coat due to a reporter catching her with an ambush.  

"Just a taste!"   
"No!"   
"A small one!"   
"Hands off my cone, Romanoff!"

This had ended with Natasha on Maria’s back and her feet balanced precariously on Maria’s shoulders as she extended out and managed to get a lick of Maria’s mint chocolate chip, despite the brunette’s outstretched hands, and then flipping over Maria’s head and landing gracefully on her feet. Natasha’s cone of raspberry ripple didn’t even sway slightly.  

From that point on, Maria didn’t put up a fuss. She let Natasha have her taste, even if they had the same flavor. Unless she indulged a little more and got sprinkles too.

Then she’d sit in a tree and eat her cone, blocking the assassin’s climb with her boots.


	7. Scents and Atmosphere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even though Natasha has an entire floor of the Avengers Tower, she prefers to be in Maria's much smaller apartment.

Her apartment floor in Stark Tower is very spacious. Maria’s place is overflowing. Not literally. Looking at Maria’s place, it’s homey in it’s own way but also efficient. Natasha wondered once if Maria had simply taken the kevlar lined Lazy Boy home from the testing area or if Nick had ordered her to. Maybe it had just shown up in her home with a smiley face wearing an eyepatch.  

That’s why Jane Foster couldn’t change her ring tone you know, that hadn’t been her phone. It just showed up with that programmed in. Of course it was Darcy’s doing and not SHIELD’s which was unfortunate when Darcy got tired of the song since she didn’t know how to change it either.  

Everything in Maria’s home was a little worn. Some more than a little. The sweatshirts that Maria lounged in, the cushions that saw girls nights and poker games, the oven that baked frozen pre made cookies sold by the kids in the building across the way. It always smelled like cookies in her home. Cookies and something that was just Maria.  

The Maria smell was in the sheets and blankets, in the clothes that Natasha “borrowed”, in the sofa where Natasha sometimes napped when she couldn’t drag herself to the bedroom. She’d showered here before, and it wasn’t a scent that she could replicate using Maria’s body wash or shampoo and conditioner. She’d tried. No, it was something that normally she only thought she could smell when her nose was burrowed against Maria’s neck. Her apartment floor at the Tower didn’t have that smell.

Yet. 

There was also the issue of belongings. Natasha didn’t really have all that many. She hadn’t really started collecting things until recently and even those wouldn’t take up much room. Tony had told her that whatever she wanted in her place, they could probably get legally.  

But all she wants is Maria and the sense of home and safety that she brings with her.


	8. Cole Madsen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha knows bits and pieces of Maria's childhood, they weren't the good parts either. She sees red when she coincidentally runs into Maria's father.

The doberman was what initially caught her attention. The fact that it was growling at her. ”You should train your dog before someone decides to do it for you” says Natasha coldly. She’s at a gas station and stretching her legs while Kevin puts gas in the car and Sharon gets some snacks for the road.  

"Not my fault if one bitch has never liked the other" says the man with a shrug. "That’s her jacket. Got her Mother’s name stitched on it like her position means something."  

Natasha’s tendency for swiping Maria’s clothes has caught up with her. She’s doing her best to control her temper but she saw red the minute he called Maria a bitch. ”Commander is actually impressive” she says calmly.  

"Not from where I sit. On the news they can’t decide whether to throw her jail for terrorism or hang her for treason. Either’s fine by me since all the medals in the world aren’t going to change the fact that she killed her mother."  

Natasha had heard bits about Maria’s father from her. That he used to be a kind man. A good Marine. But when Maria’s mother had died during childbirth, all the kindness in the man left. The only time he held Maria was to take her home. He’d disowned her and left her with his brother before taking off on another tour. Cole Madsen hadn’t ever acknowledged his daughter except as a disgrace.  

Sharon and Kevin had joined Natasha by now after wondering what the hold up was.  

"Ah, Look! You have the Saints with you! The ones who go around taking in strays! Should drown the ones they find in a bag in the river like everyone else!" remarks Mr. Madsen. It was odd. In the few times that Maria had spoken of him she’d only called him ‘Dad’ twice. Otherwise, he was ‘Cole’ or ‘Madsen’. Well, not that odd she supposed. To earn something else, he’d actually have to be around. Natasha moves in front of Kevin when she sees his knife appear in his hand. She had a similar urge but knew Maria wouldn’t appreciate the gesture from either of them. Or having to visit them in prison after hours in courthouses.  

"Actually I suppose I should thank you" says Natasha sauntering forward just out of Sharon’s grasp. "Without a bastard like you around, my girlfriend might never have been brave enough to fight against aliens and gods. Although….You can’t really take credit for that can you? I mean you left her on your brother’s doorstep, and I’d thank him but he’s dead. How about that? Your kid can make Thor sit in his seat as fast as his parents could and you can’t even take credit for it. And then of course there’s all the times she’s saved the world…"  

"Saved the- BULLSHIT!" shouts Madsen drawing the attention of a few others nearby.  

"Who do you think told Stark that a nuke was headed to New York? You could read it all online but I’m sure you have no time for such things. Sad though, she doesn’t even have your name so you can’t even claim half the credit in conversation. Anyway, the daughter you disowned is a hero sir, and I use that term loosely. Your dog growls at me again, and I shoot it" says Natasha before returning to the car.  

When Kevin and Sharon came back to the car, Natasha was in the back munching on Chex Mix. Natasha always thought how it was funny that Sharon either pulled rank or age when it came to who drove the car and Kevin was always stuck in shotgun. He always offered to take the back but Natasha didn’t mind.  

Natasha liked Kevin. He was one of the few nice guys still around. He’d do you a favor and not want anything in return. If he did it was usually the difference in change he was missing for the vending machine. Maria was so close with Sharon being practically her sister that for a while some thought Maria was dating Kevin. When Darcy had asked if that was the case, Kevin nearly choked to death on his sandwich while laughing. But the news had been a relief to Natasha.  

Still, Sharon’s and Kevin’s respect for Natasha, the person not the operative or asset, grew that afternoon. It was understood that they wouldn’t lie to Maria, but none of them would bring up the encounter unless asked.  

When Maria asked later that night, Natasha told her and was given a tight hug. When Maria pulled back, she had tears in her eyes but a wide and bright smile. Natasha wasn’t entirely clear on what she’d done. All she’d done was state facts. That just made Maria laugh and smile even brighter.  


	9. Type of Person

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha wants to be a good person, a better person. But that would mean giving up Maria, letting her have someone she deserves. Holding Maria in her arms, having her in her life, she can't live without that. Being good is overrated.

Except…except Maria wanted her. And wanted her the way she was. She knew that she had changed. She wasn’t the little girl Red Room had raised. Over time she had abandoned methods that while effective, were more extreme than SHIELD preferred. It had taken time for her to see that too.  

She wasn’t as callous as everyone would think, but SHIELD doesn’t exactly go after nice villains, now does it? She’d stopped in her pursuit of another target when she’d encountered child soldiers. She knew she couldn’t let that stand. Even working for SHIELD she’d encountered all types, human traffickers, smugglers of various things, and hunters of all sorts and the worst kinds. None of them deserved mercy, but each met their death with a bullet rather than a blood web.  

Children she tried to help if she ran into them, even if she didn’t relate well to them. She didn’t see all causes as hopeless but she knew when a person had been pushed past that point of no return. It had been the topic of discussion many times between her Clint and Steve. Clint knew that not everyone could be saved but he had a ridiculous amount of hope. Steve, well Steve believed that everyone had good in them.  

Bruce sided with her though. Clint and Steve pointed them as proof that people could be redeemed. She and Bruce though knew it wasn’t redemption as it was the monsters inside them were the reason they were still here. The Big Guy had spit out the bullet and Natasha was immune to nearly every poison on earth and her body healed quickly from all other wounds. Sociopaths, psychotics, these were the people they hunted. Murders, Natasha had been one since she was ten. Something that ingrained couldn’t be undone, but she managed to remove skills and techniques from her everyday use. And she used her skill against those who would do far more harm to others.  

Maria had said she loved Natasha as she is, demons, fears, and all. She explained that everyone has demons, they’re called those because they’re near impossible to escape. But she can help Natasha fight them off and stow them in the shadow and with the dust bunnies under the bed where they belonged. Natasha hadn’t been able to hold back her smile at the words ‘dust bunnies’.  

Maybe she was a better person. She felt lighter…since she’d been with Maria. Lighter in her chest, as if her sordid past was no longer weighing on her. Maria knew everything there was to know about her and not from files but because Natasha had told her. And she was still her. In fact her arms were wrapped Natasha’s waist this very moment and her head was resting - - well, nuzzling into Natasha’s shoulder.  

Maybe she was a better person.  


	10. Doodles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha finally locates the hard copy original file of Maria's first assessment of her. She stares at the picture drawn in "people skills" category.

"I’m not a weasel" says Natasha with a none to gentle poke in Maria’s side. "What the hell are you talking about?" asks Maria rubbing the spot where she was poked. Natasha brandishes the old file for Maria to see, while keeping just out of her reach.  

"Where did you—??"   
"Not a weasel" says Natasha again pointedly.   
"You never were. That’s an ermine."   
"Oh. Wait that’s a **kind** of weasel!”   
"A _CUTE_ kind!” argues Maria. Natasha blinks at her. Then down at the file. Then at Maria again.  

"You thought I was….cute?" asks Natasha, reevaluating the drawing. Or rather drawings.  

"Ye- -n- - Ermine are cute but fast and smart and they change color with the seasons. I thought it was fitting. You manage to get into tiny places or high security spaces that no one else can and then usually hide in plain sight. That’s all."  

"Yeah but you drew them all over this thing!"  

"Your face never changed a lot and neither did your expression. Those were to remind me that it was clear that your mind had started to analyze something else. You gave the impression of boredom, but your mind was going a mile a minute the entire time."  

Natasha was impressed that Maria had caught that and even more impressed that Maria remembered but she supposed she really shouldn’t be. Maria is excellent at her job and no one does it better.  

"What did you draw Clint as?"  

"A duck."


	11. Work Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maria's not supposed to go out on missions anymore, she's supposed to stay safe coordinating them. Natasha's supposed to be the one risking her life out there, not Maria.

So when Maria returns worse for wear, she has to answer to Natasha. Natasha at least waits until they’re in Maria’s office. JARVIS does what he can but it does little to muffle their shouts and argument. It’s the first real sign the other Avengers get of how serious Natasha is about Maria.  

"I’ve done my end right? I mean I’ve— I’ve been trying!" Natasha’s voice sounds more like a plea, like she checking to make sure that what she’s been doing was enough.  

"Yes, I know you have! You’ve been more careful on missions and more prepared" and Maria isn’t just saying it to calm her down, it’s true. She’s taken a page from Maria’s book and started going over the blueprints or what ever maps they had before hand more in depth and forming contingency plans. Maria had noted all of this and was grateful since Natasha was coming to mean a great deal to her.  

"So why would you go out on a mission?!" shouted Natasha. The logical part of her mind knew that head wounds always bled a lot, but when she saw the dried blood going down Maria’s face, her heart had nearly stopped. There were tears in her tactical uniform that hinted at other injuries and she seemed to be treating her right arm very gingerly.  

"Being the Assistant Director never kept me at a desk, Natasha! Now I’m simply an employee at Stark Industries, but my help was needed and asked for so I went!" argued Maria, not seeing why she was getting this from Natasha of all people.  

" _Bullshit!_ I don’t care what Phil says! The minute there’s another crisis and the Avengers are needed again, it’ll be Fury who shows up and Fury who we’ll be taking orders from. But none of it will matter unless you’re by his side looking out for us! You’re just as important as any of us!"  

The fact that Phil and Melinda and the rest of his team were in the tower and couldn’t avoid hearing the argument wasn’t really something anyone was really concerned about since everything Natasha was saying was true. The Avengers were separate from SHIELD and were Fury’s. And Maria’s. It’s what got her an apartment at Stark Tower to use whenever she wanted while Phil had the Bus and his little hideout.  

"What am I supposed to do if something happens to you!" shouts Natasha. From there the conversation goes on in quieter tones. Maria knows what kinds of lives they lead. She’s not foolish or heartless enough to promise that nothing will ever happen to her. She won’t use the example of ‘being hit by a bus’ because her death will probably be at the hands of someone the way the current climate is. She does know that she would be avenged and that Natasha would be leading the charge. But that Clint and Steve would also be there to catch her when she fell afterwards. So would Pepper and Jane.  

But she doesn’t plan on any of that happening anytime soon, because just like Natasha, she’s using extra precautions. Giving the phrase ‘ready for anything’ new meaning. And she explains all this to the Russian as she rocks her on her lap. The red head’s tear stained face leaning against her shoulder will make it ache again soon, but at the moment, all her pain is the furthest thing from her mind.  

So she makes the promises she can. The same ones that Natasha makes to her when Maria worries. That they’ll be careful. And that their main goal is to come back to them, the success of the mission would just be icing but first and foremost is coming back to each other.  

And miraculously, they do.


	12. Sanctuaries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha is upset Maria washed something of theirs. It hasn't been washed for months and Maria says it's getting gross. (Nat's upset because it smelled like Maria and now it just smells like laundry detergent)

"You washed it"  

"Yes"  

"You _washed_ it!”  

"Natasha, it reeked!"  

It didn’t have her smell anymore! Didn’t Maria get that? When she came home from missions and things and Maria was still at work, she liked to be enveloped in her scent. It was almost as good as being wrapped in Maria’s arms. Now it just smelled like Downy or whatever other brand of detergent and fabric softener the building happened to have on hand.  

She wasn’t as hard and closed off as so many of the others would believe. Her walls fractured and crumbled and needed time to repair just like everyone else’s but the sweatshirt had been her sanctuary. She thought Maria knew that. Except Maria couldn’t read minds and she knew it was unreasonable for her to hold it against her.  

She’s hit with a piece of clothing from the side. It’s the sweatshirt Maria wears when she’s doing work at home. Like the other, it’s two sizes too big but this still holds her scent. Natasha looks up to see Maria crouching in front of her and smiling.  

"I’ll wear the other one and you can have this one and when that one gets to be toxic I’ll trade you and wash it." Natasha nods and pulls Maria into a tight hug.

Maybe she can read minds.


	13. Habits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha always does something whenever Maria is near, she never noticed until Clint pointed it out to her.

"Why do you do that?"  

"Do what?"

"You rub the thumb and middle finger of your left hand together whenever Maria is close" explains Clint one day on the Helicarrier. It prompts Natasha to furrow her brow and make a quick exit to her quarters when they’re dismissed by Fury. A few moments later there’s a knock at her door.  

"Tash? Tasha, I didn’t mean anything by it, come on" says Clint from the other side. He lets out an aggravated groan and walks away a few seconds later.  

It used to be her tell when she still very young and nervous. She hadn’t thought about it in years, and had apparently been doing it for some time if Clint had taken notice. Longer than she thought if he’d waited until now to say anything.  

Maria didn’t make her nervous in the same way Director Fury did, which was odd since in his absence, she was the highest ranking officer here. She wouldn’t go as far as to say she wanted to impress Maria, but she did want to show her that SHIELD hadn’t made a mistake in trusting her. Maria had been one of the few to treat her decently since she’d arrived.

Natasha had noticed what others called a coldness about Maria. It’s what she had developed along with the other twenty-seven Red Room assassins. Except they didn’t call it a coldness, simply a means of survival. A hard lesson learned, that the only one you can truly rely on is yourself. But it wasn’t a sense of kinship that she felt exactly.  

She was attracted to officer, she knew that much for certain, but not what to do next. This wasn’t a con or a job at all.  

A knock at her door jarred her from her thoughts and she was just about to tell Clint to fuck off when there was a different voice from the other side of her door.  

"Agent Romanoff? Are you alright? You left rather abruptly…" called Maria’s voice.  

Natasha opened the door and nodded.  

"Clint just…reminded me of some old memories is all" explained Natasha. Maria nodded and took a step back.  

"Then would you care to join me for lunch?"


	14. Maria Hill Is Still Deadly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A group attempts to kidnap Maria to take her as leverage against the Avengers.

Maria has never been stupid. She knew something was up from the moment she entered the courthouse.  

Her testimony effected more than just the future of SHIELD, it would impact current military affairs. The thing was that any assistance that SHIELD had been giving the military had come to a stop as well. Just like Jane Foster had suddenly found herself working with the equipment she’d started out with again before SHIELD had confiscated it the first time, the military found itself without SHIELD’s intel or resources. Which at the moment left soldiers at risk of walking into all sorts of trouble. Someone fiddling with remnants of Tony’s old suits, tesseract residual energy, and then there was anything HYDRA was cooking up.  

So, yes her testimony would make waves. But she knew that and figured they had known that when all of this began. Of course no one saw the long game like Maria, so no one else had anticipated it going this far except for her and a handful of others.  

It’s why she wasn’t overly surprised when her drivers had been bought off. So she’d become the hostage in a kidnap…situation. It was an attempt really but there were too many cogs and too many gaps between the pawns and the pieces that actually knew things.  

The pen in her pocket was collapsable and had been missed when they’d taken her things. It was just one of those things, a habit of her fingers needing something to do, like twirl a pen. It went into the first man’s artery and she snapped the second man’s neck before he had a chance to process the blood splatter on the windshield.  

One thing the idiots had done right was destroy her cell phone. They still had theirs though and she knew Natasha’s and Pepper’s numbers by heart. Reinforcements were on there way, and would be there in ten but that did nothing about the soldiers currently bearing down on her. Turning on the hazard lights and car alarm and any other switch inside, Maria left the car as an easy find and easy target.  

Taking to a nearby building’s fire escape, she tucked the gun she’d taken into the back of her tailored pants and climbed. While she was able to do everything in heels, it did not make it pleasant or easy on her feet. From the roofs of the stretching row of apartment complexes, she had a better idea of her surroundings and her enemy. Whatever Special Forces branch of idiots were after her had no problem using high powered weapons in public apparently.  

One thing Maria had learned very early on was that anything could be turned into a weapon. Even traffic. Taxis would always be useful in getting you where you needed to go and getting you away from the person after you. Maria stopped abruptly and turned right after coming out of any alleyway between two buildings and the soldier after her hadn’t been able to stop fast enough and went sailing into on coming traffic. _One down, four to go_.  

SHIELD had a bad enough name as it was nowadays so if she could avoid shooting around civilians, Maria was going to. The motorcycled rider had made her break that promise, but the automatic weapon he started to raise from across the intersection at her made her not feel as bad about startling people when she shot out his front tire and sent him over the front and skidding across the street on his back to stop a short ways away from her. She kicked his helmeted head hard for good measure, ensuring he was out. _That was two_.  

The third she got by seemingly making her way to the Smithsonian Metro station but backing up into her attacker and putting one arm around his neck, the other in his gut, leaving him perfectly bent over for her to shatter his kneecap. _There’s three_.  

She didn’t see the fourth but one doesn’t usually expect a grey plastic bag with something heavy inside to be swung at their head. It had knocked her off her feet and into the brick wall next to the side alley. She felt herself getting dragged by the other idiot further out of sight.  

She fired her last shot into the gut of one and lunged with her gun and pressed it hard against the larynx of the other. She should have expected the knife, but she’d heard him drop his gun. A stupid mistake. Everyone always had a knife, even her. Still, she didn’t feel it when it went into her side, she simply felt his larynx break a moment after and him crumple lifelessly to the ground. She didn’t really remember anyone catching her either when she fell.  

* * *

"The hearings have been suspended for the moment in the matter of the Special Forces unit, pending an investigation" says a voice next to Maria’s hospital bed. The heart rate monitor is going to die soon if it’s incessant beeping isn’t stopped. Natasha smirks at her and asks the nurse if the machine noises can be turned off. Once that’s done Maria is able to relax a bit more. Natasha can see that without reading the heart rate monitor’s signs. Maria vaguely remembers a flash of red hair before passing out completely.  

"I suppose ‘stay close to your position’ means nothing to you?" asks Natasha as she leans on the bed rail, bringing her face close to Maria’s as she strokes the Commander’s cheek.  

"It never does to any of _you_ …" retorts Maria.  

"Well, it wasn’t that hard to find you. A blaring van with two dead inside, a wrecked taxi and a dead guy on it’s hood, knocked out biker with a gun, a gimp, and two dead bodies led us right to you. Your shirt and jacket are ruined though. Not because of the blood but the knife hole. I mean it can be stitched up, but it will still look like a knife hole" explains Natasha as she marvels at her amazing girlfriend. No one ever gives her enough credit, but the concussion had thrown her off or she would have expected the knife. Maria really doesn’t know what the point of it all was since she had already given her testimony, maybe make her an example? She’d ask Natasha, but she’s too tired and the way she’s running fingers through her hair is soothing her to sleep.


	15. Alterations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha steals Maria's clothes and wears them like a badge/shield so everyone knows she's with Maria, especially with the heavy dose of Maria smell on the clothes. At least that's what Maria lets Natasha think, really, Maria 'forgets' her clothes at Nat's place, everyone knows who the Black Widow belongs to and who Commander Hill belongs to.

Jane thinks it’s funny. Natasha steals everyone’s clothes but now she only wears Maria’s stuff. Not an odd sort of funny an I have to hide my grins behind my books type of funny. Maria, of course had noticed Dr. Foster’s smirks and grins and sat next to her with her bowl of goldfish crackers.  

"You have something happening to your face whenever Natasha and I are in the room. What’s that about, just curious" says Maria, and she is curious. There’s no threat in her voice and her eyes sparkle like a child’s who wants in on a secret.  

"When you first sent Nat down to be my protective detail, she wore my clothes. Not because we were together or anything but because as long at it was a shirt, I’d wear it. Of course Darcy was the one I sent shopping so one of the first things Nat asked was if my telescope had made me colorblind. She wore my stuff so that I couldn’t and she could get me new clothes" explains Jane.  

Maria can’t help but laugh at that. Jane was very dedicated to her work and would forget to eat if you didn’t put food in front of her every so often.  

"A week ago, I went back to my room and all my shirts were there for the first time in years. Even the horrible neon red John Travolta tee that she made me buy. I’m happy she’s found you, even if I didn’t get my shirts back. I haven’t seen her smile this much since we hit Mexico with Darcy" says Jane. "But, while she wears your stuff to let others know you’re together…" she pauses reluctantly meeting Maria’s gaze. It makes her nervous.  

"Yeah?" asks Maria.  

"You’re never getting anything she picks as her favorite back again" says Jane.  

"Wait, what? How many shirts are you missing?"  

"Eight. But you know that jean and sweatshirt jacket? It used to be mine. Until she had it altered to fit her" says Jane with the grin she’d been wearing recently.  

"How many of-?"  

"Yours? Three by my count so far. Both your tan and black leather jackets and your wool one with the buttons" replies Jane.  

Maria lets her head hit the table and Jane laughs. Slumping back in her chair, Maria grabs a handful of goldfish and throws one in the air to catch in her mouth.  

Only to have Natasha swipe it out of mid-air as she walks by. Natasha grabs another handful as Maria lunges to protect her fish crackers just seconds too late.  

"HEY!" complains Maria, only to have Natasha answer with her usual smile. It’s that smile that has Maria forgiving her for just about anything. She spares a glance towards Jane and then groans because it’s clear the scientist knows it too. Natasha has her completely and it’s why she’s not even mad that Nat just walked by in her black leather jacket with the sides taken in a bit more to fit her smaller frame better.  

 

Well, at least she has her fish…. _HEY!_ Half her fish are gone!


	16. Night Terrors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha should know better than to hide anything from Maria.

Natasha is out on the couch. Not because she screwed up or anything. It’s because of that stupid music box.  

There had been a music box playing a familiar tune in the mall. She’d heard it and stopped mid conversation with Bobbi and Wanda. Her blood had run cold and for a moment she could have sworn she was back in a mirrored dance studio in Russia.  

It was just a simple trinket. A music box with a ballerina inside. She’s sure that numerous girls now had them in their rooms, not knowing their true meaning.  

That had been a week ago. She sits now on the couch and tries to sleep but her shakes were so violent she had been worried that they would wake Maria. Luckily, Maria’s days are so taxing that she sleeps like a rock. Still, Natasha won’t have her wake to damp sheets due to her cold sweats over something that sounds ridiculous. Her throat hurts due to the screams that have been locked there when she jolts awake. Screams that her muscles put their full effort into but are only heard in her mind.  

She’s silly really, to think that she could hide this from Maria. When Maria walks her back to bed, Natasha is still taught as a wire but begins to relax at Maria’s fingers in her hair and her arm loose around her waist drawing lightly on her thigh.  

She tells Maria of her nightmares triggered by a music box melody. Was it chance? Was Red Room merely sending them out hoping to lure strays home, or had they found and targeted her? She begins to shake as she asks the questions plaguing her but Maria tugs her closer. She doesn’t tighten her hold though, so Natasha feels comforted rather than confined.  

Maria assures her she’ll get to the bottom of it only to be met with Natasha’s frantic gaze. Maria says that she can track the records and imports from her desk and should it come to it, she’ll ask Tony to buy out the company if that’s possible or find another means. She’s sure Tony wouldn’t mind a fly over the manufacturing factory and dropping a few of his new test weapons.  

Maria also notes, that Natasha is clutching her stuffed creature to her chest.  

Well, if she couldn’t hug Maria, she was taking the next best thing.  

Maria tightens her hold for only a moment while she reassures Natasha that she’s always up for hugs.


	17. To Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maria has a small hourglass necklace she wears whenever Nat is out on tough missions. Sometimes she'd wind the chain around onto her wrist as a bracelet.

It’s was her habits again. Her need to be doing something with her fingers. So many years at her touch screens and monitoring things. Stark had supplied a great deal of the technology on the Carriers so the touch screens were in her office and desk and monitored all sorts of things. But not Natasha on her mission. She no longer can listen in on mission progress or watch as it unfolds.  

It worries Pepper and Sharon. Not that Maria worries but that she gets so caught up watching the sand fall in the glass that she doesn’t notice how tightly she’s wound the chain into her wrist and that it’s begun to bleed.  

Sharon spots it the first time. She also spots it the next. She bandages Maria’s arm and takes the fine but strong chain from her and sets it aside. From her pocket she pulls a cord that is deep purple in color and ties it around Maria’s wrist.  

"Nat has one like that" comments Maria. It’s the first thing she’s said during the whole process.  

"She told me she got it initially to remind her to stay safe when you two started dating. Apparently, you got really pissed the first time she came back injured?" says Sharon with a smirk.  

"You mean when her tactical suit was nearly melted to her skin and fused with the blood from her wounds? Yeah I may have lost my temper a bit" grumbles Maria, the memories only angering her again.  

"So she wore it to remember to be careful" interjects Sharon, interrupting her thoughts.  

"And now?"  

"Now she wears a blue one to remind her that you’re waiting for her when she gets back. So I’m making you one too."  

"It’s purple."

"It’s the only other color she had! Anyway, if you walk around with a black or red one and it’s kind of obvious who it’s for and reporters will take note and it’ll become trendy" retorts Sharon.  

"Oh Thor!!" moans Maria as she lets her head hit her desk.  

Maria had never been an overly religious person so when Thor was found she started replacing the word God with Thor or Norse Gods. For example: ”For the love of Thor!” or “However many Norse Gods can dance on the head of a pin!”. Somehow it had become habit among the Avengers and those close to them (except Steve).  

When Natasha returned no worse for wear, the first thing she spotted was the cord around Maria’s wrist.  

"This is mine" says Natasha softly as she lifts Maria’s wrist towards her over the back of the couch.  

"No, it’s mine" says Maria, pulling her arm back sleepily.  

Natasha climbs over the back of the couch and settles herself on top of Maria. Maria gently takes Natasha’s wrist and fingers the blue cord there. ”This one’s yours.”  

"Hmm."  

They fall asleep there on the couch, both too tired to move to the bedroom. The hour glass necklace lays around her neck on it’s side, the sands no longer moving since both are now home with each other.


	18. Passing Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha sits by Maria's hospital bed. Medically induced coma. She knows it's not Pepper's fault, Maria was there trying to protect her and her Extremis flared at the danger. She would be hunting down every HYDRA cell responsible, but Maria's still in critical.

Natasha is trained in many things, but not this. There is no one to fight. Her skills are useless at this stage. Pepper was never a target of the rage inside her. Maria has always been a protector and the Extremis is something Pepper is still struggling with. Besides, Pepper is so beside herself with guilt and seeing to every possible need of Natasha’s and Maria’s while picking up Maria’s workload as well. Tony is concerned for Pepper’s well being and her taxing herself to exhaustion, and he should be.  

The others visit but Natasha stopped that for the time being for everyone but Sharon and Kevin after Steve’s bumbling attempt at comfort. His heart was in the right place, but the experience had only served as a reminder that Maria was there but she wasn’t. 

Sharon had let her spar against her in an attempt to work free her rage in those first days. She’d been merciless and Sharon hadn’t said a word. Sharon had also been the one to hold her when she finally collapsed on the mats and cried. She hadn’t ever cried like that before. Cried so hard her soul hurt. Because in a way it did, seeing Maria there and not in command of anything, not even herself. Despite all her training, Maria was very much Natasha’s protector and this is exactly the type of situation where she’d ask Maria what to do.  

They take Maria out of the medically induced coma, but now it’s up to her to wake up on her own. The doctor says at least she has something to come back to. He smiles when he says it and it’s a kind smile, but Natasha isn’t sure what he means. She talks to Steve and he asks her what Maria does when she’s sick or hurt and needs a laugh or smile. So Natasha stays by Maria’s side and wracks her brain. It isn’t until a day later that she’s come up with something passible as a story. She starts with the story behind her trip with Jane and Darcy in Mexico that had Darcy coming back with a piñata full of those stupid troll dolls. Maria had asked before, but Natasha could never answer without bursting into laughter. The whole thing was like a bad joke. _Why did the assassin, the astrophysicist, and the intern cross the border running at full tilt carrying four piñata?_

From there Natasha did her best to make up stories, but that had always been Maria’s talent more than hers. She recounted moments in missions where she could have sworn she heard Maria in her head. Inane moments mostly. Times when she was wandering through a market in Marrakech and saw a scarf that Maria would like. She could hear Maria in her head saying it was too much to spend but she bought it anyway.  

Around the third day, Natasha started her own version of Mystery Science Theater with the Lifetime movies on tv. Maria awoke around the fourth movie to see Natasha with a stuffed frog on her shoulder and a stuffed tiger in her lap making commentary in different voices for them as they watched The Stepfather.  

"Someone call the Muppets" said Maria, alerting Natasha to her awakened state. The tiger when flying across room and Natasha chucked the frog at Sharon who was in the hallway still.  

"What the hell?" yelled Sharon as she walked into see a bleary eyed Maria. She then rushed back out and all but carried Bruce into the room. After a check by Bruce and a chance to brush her teeth, Maria felt a bit more human. All except for the use of a wheelchair because her muscles hadn’t been used for a while.  

She should have known that Natasha and Tony “tinkering” with her wheelchair would lead to either a race or a near death experience.

Luckily everyone survived.


	19. Careful With Your Metaphors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha and Maria have flirted back and forth in SHIELD, but nothing would ever come of it, Maria would never break the rules, not even for Natasha. So when SHIELD falls and Maria's no longer Natasha's superior, she takes the leap.

Maria had meant it metaphorically. Take a leap _metaphorically_! She should have known that would never be the case with Natasha.  

Natasha had seemed shocked at the offer of a date.  

Of course that might have been due to the fact that Maria’s version of asking her out had been one long garbled and run on sentence. When it came to work, Maria knew her way backwards and forwards. She knew protocol, etiquette, and cultural customs.  

Dating however wasn’t something she was familiar with. Sure she’d gone on dates, but they were either set ups or pranks and usually ended with Maria punching someone.  

So being the one to ask someone else out was also a first. But Natasha had listened and waited for Maria to gather herself and then, possibly due to some earlier occurring head trauma, said yes.  

And they’d had a lovely dinner. It was simple, dinner in the park to get away from any possible cameras or reporters. Some how though that merged into following someone who had taken an interest in one of the young individuals they had helped before. Knowing that HYDRA was hunting, Maria jumped at the chance to stop someone from hurting them.  

Again, jump. Leap. They had been metaphors.  

Yet somehow they’re going across rooftops after two HYDRA agents who are also shooting at them. Also, why would you put an intricate skylight in a concrete block of a building? The entire building was nothing more than a large cement brick so that skylight was horribly out of place. And couldn’t really be seen until the last moment.  

Like when you were falling through it.  

Maria heard the glass first begin to crack under Natasha’s boot and put her last bursts of energy into her feet and lunged to catch Natasha before she plunged down three stories. Really, who puts an art gallery here?  

Then of course there’s the fact that they’re still being shot at, so Maria’s little rescue might not mean much if she’s shot and they both fall. She pulls and with what seems to be the last bit of air in her lungs, manages to yank Nat over the edge and back on to the roof.  

They get Clint and Sharon to move their former young charge to a safe house for the time being. They grab some gelato and walk back down the street. It isn’t until their two blocks from her apartment that Maria realizes that Natasha is walking her home.  

"You’re staying over. I’m at least going to pull the glass shards that felt go into you through your jacket. My vodka is all yours" says Maria as she holds the door open for Natasha.  

"Hmm. Usually, it takes more than that to get me to take off my clothes and stay over, but you did offer a me a drink" purrs Natasha and Maria just rolls her eyes as she escorts her inside.  

Later when Natasha is all bandaged and Maria’s hands are also free of slivers, they’re watching some horror movie called P2 on one of the various channels. Somehow they’d wound up pressed against each other as they wondered how the girl was going to manage to survive when she’d already passed up the fire extinguisher and high pressure fire hose as weapons.  

When Maria awoke sometime later, Natasha had her arms around Maria’s sides and the rest of her curled around her like a cat.  

As first dates go, Maria feels this one is a success.  

Dinner, a foiled HYDRA plot, and neither of them bled out. As soon as Natasha’s stitches healed up, maybe they’d go on another.


	20. Poking At Cracks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maria should know better than to hide an injury from Natasha.

Maria is an expert at holding herself together.

But Natasha is an expert at seeing through people’s cracks.  

Which is why although Maria is sitting at her desk at Stark Industries and typing away like nothing is wrong, Natasha knows better.  

Maria is one of the few people that can deal with Natasha’s prolonged staring. So she continues to work and even makes a few calls, without breaking out into a sweat like most would.  

But then Natasha spots it.

While Maria’s making notes from the conversation she just had, Natasha rounds her desk.  

Maria does nothing more than raise an eyebrow at her briefly.  

Until Natasha pokes her left forearm hard. Pepper hears Maria’s pained yell halfway down the hallway and rushes into Maria’s office.  

"Your employee is injured" states Natasha dryly.  

"I would have been fine if you hadn’t poked at it!" growls Maria.  

Pepper carefully undoes Maria’s cuff and then rolls her sleeve back to reveal a bandaged gash on her arm that is now seeping blood steadily.  

Pepper is going to be a wonderful mother someday, since the glare she levels at Maria has her feeling ashamed for hiding it and the one she levels at Natasha wipes off her pleased smirk and replaces it with a look of embarrassment for having not simply told Pepper of the injury.  

"Home"  

"Pepper!" counters Maria.  

"Home! Granted we are a mostly paperless office, the ones that do cross your desk should be free of bloodstains! You’d have a better argument if it had been properly stitched shut. Did you do it with one eye closed?" remarks Pepper with a nod to Natasha to see her home.  

Maria cuts a glare to Natasha, but she doesn’t care and simply drapes her jacket over her shoulders and escorts Maria to the elevator. It really doesn’t help that Natasha finds Maria’s grumpy and pouting face adorable.


	21. Liho's Intervention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha, due to Clint's advice, employs a technique of venting her feelings for Maria out on e-mail and deleting it. Or she would've deleted it if it weren't for Liho jumping on her keyboard and hit SEND. Oh god. Oh dear god.

The email was never meant to be sent, that much was clear. Maria hadn’t known what to expect from the email since Natasha usually preferred face to face or emoji filled texts. Maria hadn’t known there _was_ a barfing face emoji until Clint had introduced Steve to karaoke.  

Still, she read through the rant confession three times before it fully registered that Natasha had actually been referring to her. Had feelings for her. She could have ignored it or pulled something about officers and subordinates, but her attraction had always been there, just compartmentalized.

That didn’t mean it worked, just that that’s what she’d been attempting.  

Rather than let the situation sit, she sent Natasha a text message.  

 **MHill** : What are you up to?  

* * *

Natasha had just tried to catch Liho so that she could kill her, but ran into her solid cement wall with her shoulder while the feline escaped out the window. She was about to chuck the phone at the wall when she saw the message was from Maria. Dreading the conversation, she ignored it. She managed until after she’d gotten ice for her arm before her curiosity got the better of her.  

 **NRoff** : Icing my arm. Hurt it trying to capture a cat

 **MHill** : You have a cat?

 **NRoff** : Seeing as how you’re a stickler for spelling and grammar, I thought you’d notice the lack of the word “My”

 **MHill** : So cats just come and hang out at your place like it’s some feline street corner?

 **NRoff** : JUST ONE! AND SHE SENT THE EMAIL!!

 **MHill** : I’m going to take your word on the first part and we’ll go with that story for now for the second

 **NRoff** : IT’S TRUE!

 **MHill** : So I should assume everything in the rest of your rant was true too?

 **NRoff** : What? Why wouldn’t it be?? WAIT WHICH PART???

* * *

Maria was waiting in line and having entirely too much fun with this, but she was too happy at having learned that her attraction to the former assassin was mutual.  

 **MHill** : So in your email that lacked any punctuation except for the occasional exclamation point, am I to gather that your biggest annoyance was that we hit La Salsa and Taco Bell too much and never Chipottle?

* * *

 

Natasha was at a complete loss now and was bringing up her email in another window to read what the hell she’d written!

 **NRoff** : I meant the activities we did not the eating places! Some variety!

She’d hoped that the variety would give her a better idea of how Maria felt about her.  

 **MHill** : You mean other than that tie we went to the gym? By the way, who goes to the gym and does yoga?

 **NRoff** : All the people in that class!

 **MHill** : I’ll rephrase. What SHIELD operative goes to the gym and does yoga???

 **NRoff** : What? You worked out! And you know we only went there so that we could tell Sharon we went at least once!

 **MHill** : True. How about we start with some variety on both fronts. You up for some Chinese?

 **NRoff** : When?

The knock at her door nearly made Natasha jump a foot and send her phone flying. She quickly stashed the few things left out. A first aid kit on the coffee table didn’t exactly say home sweet home. Well, actually it did to Natasha, but it wasn’t the impression she was going for. A loud meow came from the other side of the door as well.  

"Looks like the cat wants in too" called Maria. Natasha marched over and yanked the door open, letting Maria in and glaring at Liho.

“ _You don’t live here!_ " hissed Natasha as Liho made herself at home.

"She just shows up?"

"Yes!" growls Natasha still eying the feline as Maria sets out the food.

"Sounds like someone else I know. Breaks into people’s homes and makes herself comfy" says Maria with a teasing smile. If Natasha considered you a friend, she broke into your home. The vodka that showed up there was not for you to drink, it was for you to stock up on whenever it got low.

"Well, I don’t hop on the send key when people are writing emails!" gripes Natasha. Maria leans over and kisses her. It’s a chaste kiss, but it still makes Natasha’s head spin.

"I’m kind of glad she did. You hungry?" asks Maria as she hands her a plate.

"Yeah" answers Natasha with a bright but slightly shy smile.


	22. Casual Concerns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before they got together and were being casual, Natasha didn't know Maria had almost died. SHe just thought the mission went far longer than it was supposed to, a month longer. So when she found out Maria didn't even tell her she almost died (even when she came back healthy), Natasha was pissed and didn't know why she had all these feelings and got really frustrated when Maria didn't understand what the big deal was.

"You almost died" says Natasha as she walks into Maria’s office. Tony takes his cue to leave, no jokes, no smirks, just gone.  

"You’ll have to tell me what you’re talking about" says Maria as she rubs at her forehead.  

"Don’t be cute-"  

"Natasha, you know how often-"  

"I’m referring to Bangkok and why you were a month late coming back!"  

"Oh. Let’s move this to quarters then" says Maria quietly. It’s one of those memories she’d rather forget.  

"Bruce let it slip when he was doing my post mission work up. My wounds will heal but he was just grateful it wasn’t like anything like what they’d dealt with in Bangkok. What happened Maria? Besides the near death part?" Natasha is still standing but they’re now in Maria’s private quarters.  

"We encountered AIM and a car chase ensued. You’ve been in countless of your own! I don’t see-!"  

"None that had my car flipping over seven times and having punctured my lung! They had to figure out how to get you out before they even knew anything else was wrong! And you didn’t ever bother to bring it up!"  

"Natasha, why is this such a big deal? I thought this was just casual, what’s going on? C’mere and sit down already, your pacing is making me dizzy" says Maria, moving her pillow on her bed against the wall and making room for Natasha next to her. Natasha flops down next to her with a perplexed and irritated look.  

"I don’t know!" They sat in silence next to each other for a bit, Maria resting her head on Natasha’s shoulder. "Why didn’t you tell me you got hurt?"  

Maria sighs and thinks for a moment.  

"As the Assistant Director of SHIELD it might seem stupid, since I’m the one following Nick into anything and everything" starts Maria.  

"But that’s everybody else, why not tell me?"  

"Because as a SHIELD agent-"  

"Maria- - "

”- - as a SHIELD agent, telling the Black Widow that I got injured seems like complaining of a splinter. As for telling you….I felt stupid”  

"Why?" asked Natasha trying not to show that the confession had hurt a bit.  

"Because it was a move I should have seen coming! You would have been ready for it! A rookie would have been ready for it! I got screwed up by the side streets and the first two knocks spinning me around, but I should have known there was a fourth car. Bruce had to Hulk out to get the doors off" answered Maria, sinking lower into her bed out of embarrassment.  

That hadn’t quite been what Natasha had been expecting.  

"Well, if it’s okay by you, for the sake of my emotions and the contents of my stomach, can we not be casual anymore? Because I think it’s safe to say my feelings have gone past that" says Natasha as she tentatively wraps her arms around Maria’s waist.  

"I think it’s in both our best interest since I’ll have you know I go through the same thing every time you come back hurt" says Maria as she brushes Nat’s hair out of her face to reveal bright green eyes.  

"Oh"  

"Yup"  

"Um, sorry?"  

"We’ll figure it out, later"  

"Later’s good"


	23. Wait Staff Misery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Black Widow is amused by this restaurant. The waiters are literally skipping after their boss ordered them to. And someone desperately needs to take their meds and that blonde waitress should get her 1st degree burns checked. Though that cute brunette waitress, starving med student, is a sight to watch. She supports everyone without them even knowing. It also helps that she sputters and flushes whenever Natasha bats her eyelids at her. BW lets the cute girl upsell her some drinks and food.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by the movie Slammin Salmon which Cobie is in.   
> Her scenes can be seen here:   
> http://swarming0.tumblr.com/post/103098936382/cobie-smulders-in-the-slammin-salmon-as-tara

One of the things that made Natasha laugh was that she was the only one who didn’t get up when the owner ordered everyone in his office.  

The wait staff was one that probably needed to all be heavily medicated but none more so than the owner. Although the waiter shoving raw fish down the patron’s throat was a close second.  

"Hi! Can I start you off with something to drink?"  

"Vodka, please. Should I order you something as well? Looks like you’re having one hell of a night" says Natasha.  

The brunette smiles. ”Sorry, I can’t drink while on shift” says Tara with an actual smile.  

"Then I’ll save one for you after" says Natasha.  

The ballet is off but seeing the fire show makes up for it. Luckily, her waitress ducks the blonde waitress’ kick. The rest of the staff seem used to it and either manage around her or go along with her routine. It goes on and Natasha would offer some advice but the waitress has gone into the back. Oh and then there was her scream.  

From that point on, Natasha mentally referred to her as the flambé faced waitress.  

"Sorry, it’s been so long, I can take your order now" says Tara, or at least that’s what her name tag reads, but it doesn’t seem to fit her.  

"What do you do when you’re not skipping and taking orders?" asks Natasha over the rim of her vodka.  

"I’m a second year med student" replies Tara with a smile.  

"That actually helps me. What would you order here? Regardless of price" asks Natasha.  

"The swordfish is the freshest thing we have tonight, so probably that" says Tara after a moment. Natasha appreciates that she’s actually giving the question some thought. She might actually pay for the meal rather than scam it.  

What she get though is a shrimp scampi dish that suits her just fine, always loving pasta.  

"Our boss personally KO’d the swordfish so the the chef could cook it, so I went for something else instead. It’s my favorite but if you’d like something else-"  

"It’s fine" assures Natasha and lets Tara get back to her manic night.  

* * *

She won! The end of a nightmare undercover assignment and a ten thousand dollar bonus almost made the hellish night worth it. Except that now she really needed a drink but all her skipping had her almost to tired to walk home. As a rookie agent, a car would have been extra and she was able to spend more time with her mark by walking and carpooling anyway.  

"You look like you could use more than one drink right about now" comes a voice from slightly behind her. Maria keeps her body from tensing but stays ready as she turns. It’s the red head from before, and she brings a smile to Maria’s face. "If you’re still up for it, I’m buying."  

"Actually, tonight got me a ten grand bonus so I can buy you one. Also, it’s my last night there" says Maria, falling into step with the red head.  

"Nope, after the night you had, I’m still buying. Also, you can tell me your real name. ’Tara’ seems like the name you put on your application so that your med school would never connect you to possible food poisonings" replies Natasha.  

Maria wonders briefly if her cover is blown, but it doesn’t feel like it. There’s no sign of a threat, underlying or otherwise. So she breaks the first rule but she figures what the hell. A stranger who will probably forget her after tonight and a few drinks.  

"Maria"  

"Natasha"

* * *

Maria arrives at her office at Stark Industries to find a large post it covering a newspaper article.  

**Tonight we’re having shrimp scampi -N**

Puzzled, Maria moves the post it to see the article underneath.  

_Slammin Salmon closed by Health Department_

Maria can’t help the bright smile that stays on her face all day.


	24. Different

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maria's having a normal night when she see's Natasha Romanoff walk by with a blood stained towel wrapped around her head and sirens in the distance. Cops. Great, she can't have the black widow arrested, especially not when she looks like she has a concussion.

Definitely a concussion. Natasha barely flinches when Maria takes her elbow.  
”Come on” says Maria in voice loud enough for only Natasha to hear.  
"I thought that was you Hill, was hoping actually" says Natasha, leaning heavily onto Maria’s side.  

"I’m not even going to ask" says Maria, walking them inside her apartment building and then her apartment. This one belongs to an alias, so there are no personal belongings but there are the basics and the supplies needed to patch Natasha up.  

She’s been attracted to the assassin for sometime, longer than she’d care to admit since she can’t exactly remember, but has never acted on it. It’s never had to do with her being an Officer, or at least making her way up the ranks. No, it’s… Maria sees how the other agents look at Natasha, most not even bothering to hide the lust in their gaze. She doesn’t want to come across as one of them because it’s more than just a physical draw. It’s the fact that Natasha Romanoff was born in 1928 and in the years when she was not tormented or on missions, the time she had to herself she valued and spent bettering herself.   

Maria is reminding Natasha not to fall asleep when she notices Natasha’s piercing gaze.  

"You’d tell me if you were seeing double, right?" asks Maria, only half joking.  

"What do you see when you look at me Maria, besides my head wound?" asks Natasha in a curious voice.  

Maria pauses in her application of antiseptic and looks into her vivid green eyes. She knows that Natasha can’t read minds, she knows that for a fact but her question still jars her.  

"I see someone I am surprised to find having pledged her loyalty to SHIELD. Not for the reasons most of the others have. You’ve been treated mercilessly by loss time and time again. Loss of trust, of friendship, of love, of simple kindness. Loss of faith in mankind over and over again for decades. Yet whether or not you believe that we can change things for the better, you’re willing to help us try.  

I see someone who took advantage of the years given to her, reading up on everything she can and storing it in her amazing mind. You’ve read all of SHIELD’s mission files but also have a great knowledge of history and art as well as science and engineering.  

And you hide it all behind your air of mystery and give the impression that no one could ever guess what you’re thinking, because with all that you know, it’s probably true.” Maria then blushes a shade that comes close to matching Natasha’s hair. She hadn’t meant to go on like that. Natasha let’s the matter go though when her stomach growls loudly.  

Maria grins and fixes her a sandwich, Natasha prodding her into talking to keep her awake, but by the time her sandwich is ready Natasha is fast asleep on Maria’s bed.

* * *

 _This one is different_.

It’s the first thought Natasha has when she wakes and sees Maria asleep beside her. She’d kept her hands to herself during the night, aside from checking Natasha once again, signs of fever and if Natasha could give her any sort of response letting her know she’d heard her. Otherwise, she had respected Natasha’s boundaries.  

She saw more than most. Or rather, she took the time to really look. They weren’t observations that could be made from the papers in her file. They were the observations of someone who had actually listened the few times she spoke of unrelated work matters, or related as sometimes the case maybe.  

Natasha reached out and stroked Maria’s cheek, Maria moving into the touch. She awakens to find Natasha staring at her but doesn’t startle. She would have thought she was still asleep at the feel of Natasha’s lips against hers but her green eyes are looking at her so clearly and so deeply.

They both find something in each other, not only when they both find release but afterwards as well. There’s no hurry. Maria doesn’t feel the need to rush to leave before her partner none to subtly goes to kick her from their bed and Natasha doesn’t feel the need to exit because for once she wouldn’t object to the notion of this becoming more than just a sleepover.  

"We can’t have breakfast here" mumbles Maria into Natasha collar bone.

 _So much for that notion_ , thinks Natasha.

"Aside from penicillin growing in my fridge, I have half a thing of what used to be cheddar cheese that’s now mostly blue green and the eggs I know are at least two weeks overdue for the sink. Also, the raspberry I thought was saving in my yogurt yesterday I found couldn’t be since it was plain yogurt. So I strongly recommend going elsewhere to eat until hazmat cleans my fridge. Maybe I could get some interns to do it…"  

Natasha can’t help the laughter that bubbles up in her chest and she pulls Maria into a deep kiss.

They settle for brunch some time later. 


	25. Dating Heads Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Wait this was a date?"   
> "Yes, that's what it is Maria."   
> "When did that happen?"   
> "When I asked you out this morning?"   
> "That was you asking me out?!"

Natasha is now doing everything she can to keep from banging her head into her kitchen counter. "Maria, what did you think was happening?" asks Natasha exasperatedly.  

Maria sighs and sits on the couch. "I don’t have a lot of dating experience. Usually when someone asks me out, Sharon or Melinda are nearby and can tell me if it was a serious offer or a prank. Sometimes it’s Kevin that’s with me. Actually, none of them tell me if it’s a prank, the person just can’t look me in the eye later, sometimes due to a black eye. Then the whole thing became some sort of SHIELD rookie agent rite of passage. But it’s not like our lives leave a lot of time for dating anyway, so I tried to never let it get to me."  

It gets a very inelegant snort from Natasha which turns into giggles. Maria sighs again but Natasha puts a hand up to keep her from leaving.  

"It’s—- it’s just— It’s just that I’m used to conjuring plenty of interest, but I’m never really wanted for anything more than that. It’s surprising when you consider what a Black Widow spider does that the sexual fantasies are so common" says Natasha, sitting down on the couch next to Maria.  

"People have a habit of telling you their fantasies?" asks Maria with a raised eyebrow.  

"No, but the far away and dazed look they agents get says more than I want to know. Especially since I happen to interested in a certain Commander who I will make my intentions clear through an email" says Natasha.   
Maria laughs.   
"-and have it signaled to you in morse code"  
Maria laughs harder.   
"I may even go to Tony about sky writing….well no, because that would involve questions from Tony and Tony. I’ll go to a private contractor for that, but sky writing is still a possibility."  

"Post its work. Text messages! You’re original idea of emails! I swear if Kevin comes and delivers a singing telegram at my door due to threat of harm, you’d better keep an eye out for your taser discs coming back at you" says Maria as she leans in for a kiss.


	26. Get Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One time, Maria kicked Natasha out of a plane.

Coincidentally, it was right after Maria had gotten her hair cut short. No one had seen it yet except for the regulars at Stark Industries, so this was the first time Natasha was seeing it.  

"It’s short" says Natasha, sitting down next to Maria on the plane once she notices the cut.    
"Yes"   
"Short but cute"   
"Thank you"  

Of possible reactions, Natasha batting at the ends of her hair like a cat hadn’t crossed her mind.  

"Stop that"   
"Can’t. It’s soft and fluffy and shiny and pretty"  

Sam and Clint are doing their best to look every where else but at them, and for that Maria is grateful. Natasha is all but nuzzling her hair. Granted the stylist had said it would have a soft and fluffy look, but how was she to know that would be Natasha catnip?

Now Natasha was threading her fingers through her hair and as much as Natasha found it to be a turn on, so did Maria. This would not do.  

"Focus. We’re approaching your jump point. You have a mission to be thinking about" reminds Maria, but Natasha is having too much fun.   
"Natasha!!"   
"Mmhm! Mission, got it. Have you felt how soft this is?"   
"Yes, seeing as how it’s on my head"

At this point Maria gets up and starts strapping Natasha’s gear onto her to get her ready. Natasha is looking at her with a curious expression that could mean any number of scenarios but none of them suited for here.  

When the doors open Maria kicks Natasha out of the plane, otherwise she’d still be playing with her hair.


	27. Standby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha hates it when Maria pulls rank on her, especially on dangerous missions where Maria is in the direct line of fire.

"End of discussion Romanoff! You are to remain on standby!"

Natasha hated going home to Russia. She hated Maria going in alone even more. No one knew how easy it was to make someone disappear in the streets of Russia better than Natasha. It wasn’t as if Maria was going in to meet friends anyway. They were actually some of Natasha’s old associates that had moved up in rank since she last saw them, which was what had her concerned in the first place. Maria was one of the best, but there wasn’t a lot a person could do against a Russian ambush.

Still, Maria would have her stuck in the elevator shaft while Tony blasted ‘It’s a Small World’ if she disobeyed these orders. There were a lot of orders that had wiggle room and were open to interpretation, but at the use of her last name coming for Maria, there wasn’t any.  

Two hours and a gun fight and car chase later, Maria boarded the plane. Natasha’s scowl didn’t even seem to phase her anymore.  

"It went bad" growled Natasha.

"It was expected too"

"I don’t like you in the middle of situations like that alone"

"And when our roles are reversed, I don’t either, but I knew you were on stand by if I needed you. It’s done and I’m fine Natasha. Let’s just go home" says Maria as she cups Natasha’s cheek and let’s her thumb rub against it.

Natasha nods, but holds onto Maria’s hand the entire ride home.


	28. Not Available

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Since Nat's gone underground after SHIELD imploded, she's no longer there to fend off people interested in Maria. When she comes back, she has to make it very very clear that Maria is taken by none other than the Black Widow.

It’s clear that Maria Hill has made an impression at Stark Industries. However, not all of that is business related. At first Natasha misses how many people are turning as Maria walks by, but she’s too busy watching the woman she hasn’t seen in ages.  

Maria has beauty that is down played by how she carries herself. She’s very serious when it comes to work matters and can look just as stunning as Pepper at events, but if you were to tell her she was beautiful she would hit you and laugh at your absurdity. The only reason she doesn’t hit Natasha is because Natasha would hit her back at the notion that she was kidding. As she’s leaving though she notices the attention on Maria and how it **_isn’t_** focused on the red hourglass necklace she’s wearing, well it’s something that needs to be dealt with.  

You would think kissing Maria goodbye at lunch (much to Maria’s embarrassment since it was in front of everyone, but that was the plan) would dissuade people, but they didn’t even bother to be subtle in their leering. Had they been leering at the both of them, then Natasha would be comforted by the fact that at least some part of their brains knew she was taken. But no.  

No, it wasn’t until a freak accident.  

Natasha had been out with Sam and Darcy, who were dating since Sam met her on his run, and had broken her leg. Darcy was explaining how she’d been out to get a cronut and had bumped into Sam (literally) and then had to explain why cronuts were magical and then they both ran to the shop where, after tasting Darcy’s, Sam bought two and gave one to Darcy and won her heart. Sam said there was more to it than just a cronut and was about to explain when a bike messenger hit Natasha into an open manhole. The messenger and his bike lived, but Natasha broke her leg falling into the hole.  

Maria’s coworkers finally saw how serious Maria and Natasha were about each other, the jewelry and affectionate gestures not being a clue, when Maria went rushing from her office to meet Natasha at the hospital. The bike chain had kept Natasha from falling completely into the uncovered street opening, but had made a mess out of her hand and arm. Maria was there though and that made her feel better and less angry at all of New York. Also, she got to hear Sam and Darcy’s story again as they told it to Maria. Maria’s expression was priceless.  

"Wait, wait, wait. You interrupted your work out for a cronut? Isn’t that self defeating, Sam?"  

"I like to think of it as being for the greater good"  

"See, this is why I love him. And them. Cronuts."


	29. Old Methods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha sees Maria get shot in front of her, right in the head. She doesn't remember what she did to get to Maria, but there's blood everywhere and Maria's glassy eyes staring at the ground. She's never felt so powerless, lost, despondent. (But Maria lives!)

In that moment, Natasha is gone and The Black Widow is present and in full force. There had been at least fifteen attackers between Natasha and Maria before the shot, but she isn’t counting now. Clint is the only member of the team to know what she is truly capable of, aside from Maria, but this comes as a shock to Tony, Steve, Sharon, Bobbi, and Bruce. _Maria_.

When Natasha came to SHIELD, there were certain fighting techniques she stopped using to try and be less vicious. That and SHIELD tended to prefer it’s captives alive. That was no longer a consideration in her mind at this point. The Widow’s Web was formed through the use of her detachable wrist wire. The web had nothing to do with the wire, but with the blood pattern left behind. Slicing through arteries or simply decapitating body parts altogether, blood streams and sprays went across walls and ceilings. The overlapping sometimes gave it the shape of a web that would seem to grow smaller as it progressed further down the hall. The bodies dropped and the blood splatter that sprayed back on her couldn’t be further from her mind as she falls at Maria’s side.

Head wounds bleed all over the place due to the number of blood vessels there. Natasha knows this from both personal and professional experience. But this is Maria’s blood. The laminate floor is white, making the blood look all the more bright and the pool forming seem even larger.

Sharon’s at her side and she doesn’t remember when she got there but she’s moving Natasha’s hands to put pressure on the wound. Natasha’s hands feel heavy and like rubber almost as she does as instructed. They move her and before Natasha knows it, they’re at medical and not letting her go any farther. Sharon and Bobbi hold her back gently and then practically hold her up as they get her to the waiting chairs.

Pepper comes by with clean clothes for Natasha and Maria. Steve and Clint are in an argument down the hall a ways. Steve still hasn’t been able to look her in the eye and part of it may be due to the fact that Natasha is still covered in the blood of the ones she killed, but she hasn’t been able to stop looking at her hands that are coated in Maria’s blood up to her wrists. Steve gestures toward her a few times but Tony sits next to her and Bruce across from her. She vaguely hears Clint yell that it’s because Steve doesn’t have anybody that he loves and is willing to die for. Steve goes to throw a punch but Bobbi pushes him back while Sharon turns Clint back to the chairs. The glare Sharon throws at Steve takes the fight out of him more than anything else.  

When the doctor tells her that Maria was lucky, Bruce and Tony keep Natasha from knocking him down the hall. He reports that the bullet missed everything. There won’t be any lasting damage, it only nicked her skull. Natasha collapses into her chair in relief. She then lets Bobbi and Sharon talk her into taking a shower and getting cleaned up before Maria sees her.  

Natasha falls asleep in the chair next to Maria’s bed but the first thing she sees when she wakes is Maria smiling sleepily back at her.


	30. Fear of Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maria prefers to oversee several missions at once to minmize agent casualties than venture out in the field herself. She's glad she got out personally for this one in the dead of winter in a forest in Ukraine. Natasha just got shot in the back and is down, what makes Maria scared is that Nat isn't getting back up and the snow is staining rapidly with her blood.

Maria is being carried by a Red Room operative right before it happens. There is blood in her eyes from a gash on her forehead and her body is tired and half frozen. She struggles against the man carrying her but he’s built like one of the old, thick, and strong trees surrounding them. Her movements hardly make him budge.  

Then there’s the shot.  

Natasha was on her way to her, but a shot in the back has her down. As her blood pools in the snow, the white turning a deep crimson that makes her nauseous, Maria is scared. You always go into missions with fear, the knowledge you might not come back. If you didn’t, your arrogance would get you killed faster than anything else. But this is past simple fear because Natasha isn’t moving.  

In fact, it doesn’t even look like she’s breathing. The man carrying her hasn’t even paused in his stride. Maria hears a ringing in her ears and her body all of sudden feels numb with pins and needles but also heavy at the same time. Natasha still hasn’t moved.  

To her immediate right Maria can see the vein bulging in the man’s neck as he carries her. All she can see is Natasha’s body in the snow. The blood pumping in his veins seems so unfair so it means nothing to her to sink her teeth into it. His scream is just white noise and she doesn’t even feel the blood splatter against her face or the blood dripping down her chin.  

The moment he drops her, his gun is in her hand but that part is all instinct. Tony and the others are there at the sound of shots. They’d lost them in the snow and the small avalanche about eleven miles back. It’s where Maria twisted her ankle, but it’s so cold and she’s focused on Natasha. She’s putting pressure on the wound and begging Natasha to wake up.  

It’s Tony who pulls her back and comforts her. He reassures her that Bruce knows what he’s doing and will do everything he can, but that won’t come close to how hard Natasha is fighting to come back to her. Maria can’t tear her eyes away from the blood. The blood on her face doesn’t seem to worry him, he being one of the few who knew what lengths a person would go to to protect the ones they love. There is nothing he wouldn’t do for Pepper and he was one of the first to recognize what Maria and Natasha had between them.  

"She’s fought through and with worse and come back to you" reminds Tony. The sound of Natasha coughing nearly makes Maria collapse. Tony holds her up and for once she is grateful for the fact that his suit is so sturdy.  

The doctors call it a lucky shot not to have hit anything. Nothing but Natasha, Maria wants to remind them. Back at Natasha’s bedside, she removes the stuffed monster she’d placed in Natasha’s arms and replaces in with her arm. Natasha tightens her grip around it and Maria turns to see her smiling at her.  

Finally, the ringing in her ears and the pins and needles feeling ebbs completely and Maria feels like she can breathe easily again.


	31. Commitment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They're not dating. Sure, Nat & Maria would have sex, watch horribly cheesy romantic movies and mock action movies, eat lunch together whenever they were at HQ, have dinners and then get dessert after.But Pfft, they're not dating. They're just friends. With lots of benefits.

They are dating and Tony couldn’t be happier. In fact he’d congratulate them but they’re still convinced they’re not dating.

And that’s fine for the time being. But he was talking with Pepper when one of the IT workers came and asked him if it was okay to install the private and secure line to an specific unlisted number that Hill had requested. A number only he and Pepper knew went directly to Natasha.  

Tony knew lots of things but there were an equal number of things he still didn’t know. He knew he still couldn’t read the Russian at all, but her face did become clearer when Maria was concerned. It was the same type of look he’d bet he got when it came to Pepper. He knew Pepper was capable, but he still worried. In fact of the smartest women he knew, Pepper was up there with Jane Foster, Maria Hill, and Natasha Romanoff.  

Still, as smart as they were, it didn’t make them bulletproof.

But he also knows that Pepper keeps him grounded. He wouldn’t even try and hazard a guess what Maria helps Natasha hold on but he would bet it would devastate her like something happening to Pepper would devastate him. The only potentially frightening part was how well they all worked together. Now that Maria worked for Stark Industries and given that Natasha used to, even if she was undercover at the time, that created a sort of team that scared him. Those glares individually were powerful but together they could probably stop a war….why wasn’t that a strategy already?  

Tony knows better than to comment on how many times he’s seen them sharing meals or curled up together watching movies. Contrary to the asshole he knows he can be, he knows how precious what Maria and Natasha have is even if they’re too scared to acknowledge it yet. He doesn’t know why Pepper stays with him but he’s’ smart enough to stop asking. He knows it’s probably stupid, given everything they’ve been through, but part of him is afraid that if he asks too often she’ll leave. She’s the CEO, she doesn’t need him but for some reason she does no matter how many times she’s close to missile and gun fire she stays.  

It occurs to Tony that that might be Natasha’s fear. What’s keeping them from making it real. Maybe Natasha’s worried that should things be made serious and no longer a fling, that she’s the type of person that Maria is usually looking to stop. Natasha is the only one of the Avengers looking for redemption. Granted none of them were angels exactly, not even Steve, but Natasha was the only one keeping an active record. Her memory being what it is, she would never forget a soul.  

Then there was Maria. Tony had his own guilt from his company being the one to make and supply weapons. Maria’s guilt was one of having HYDRA, the world’s newest and biggest threat, operate right under her nose. Sitwell plotting no more than twenty feet away from her for so long. SHIELD had promised to keep Natasha safe and she had to had to wonder how long she’d be able to keep that promise. Natasha had said her piece in front of the cameras but that alone wouldn’t keep her safe. Maria had one of the best tactical minds he’d seen but she was used to being the reinforcement to plans already in motion. They’d have to remind her she was part of a team, a family. They both were, and they’d keep them safe.

He could see why they were hesitant , but they’d get there.


	32. Welcome Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha didn't expect Commander Hill to tackle her into a kiss after medical releases her. She really isn't complainig though. But that bruise on her back is only going to get worse if Hill keeps pushing her against the table, better reverse that position now.

Maria solves the problem for her by lifting her onto the table, and then to Natasha’s surprise, following after her and crawling on top of her. However Nat’s grip on her ass didn’t give her much room to go anywhere else.

Maria hadn’t been that scared since the nuke had been headed towards the Avengers in New York. This time, Tony was with her in New York while Natasha and Clint were in Bosnia. It wasn’t a nuke this time, but the blast shook buildings for three blocks and the two of them had barely escaped. They’d managed though, and gotten out with nothing more than cuts and bruises, some fairly large, but they would heal.

Maria had managed through the debriefing and through Clint and Natasha’s trip through medical. She was even glad to see Barton. She had nearly belted Jasper Sitwell off the carrier when she found out what was happening. She was Commander and Second in Command at that, so he had no business trying to hide an active op from her like she was another new agent on the bridge trying to horn in.

She’d been overseeing three other ops when she noticed the feeds being diverted to him as well. That wasn’t unusual but the part where other feeds were being kept from her was. When she reviewed them it was clear that Barton and Romanoff were being mishandled and at the rate things were going, they would die.

Maria took over and managed to get things looking a less dire. She couldn’t stop the bomb though and they didn’t have enough time to try.

So when she’d finally heard that Natasha had been released to quarters, she’d made her way there. When Natasha opened her door looking exhausted, Maria had paused.

But she had to touch her. To make sure that she was really all in one piece.

She touched Natasha’s face and from there she couldn’t help but launch herself at Natasha. Her kiss was met with a matched enthusiasm that had them both panting when they separated. Thankfully, Natasha had closed the door behind her.

Nothing else happened that night, but Maria went to sleep with her arms around Natasha knowing that she was okay and that was enough for a beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was going to be smut but I lost it....


	33. Intern Offers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I think Darcy just propositioned me" "O...kay?" "Really, she did Maria!" "She flirts with everyone Natasha." "Did she flirt with you?" "Ye-No. No, she did not. Natasha. Stop. No, Natasha stop right there!"

Natasha normally has a thing for wanting to seem taller on occasion, so this is more common when she does it.

However the only thing Maria can think to do is jump on Natasha’s back piggy back style in order to bring her to a halt.

They collapse heavily to the ground with a loud thud.

Tony, hearing the noise, comes out of a nearby office and spotting the two is about to make a teasing comment. Except Maria turns towards him and says, “Tell Darcy to run” and it promptly has him scurrying for the lab area and off to save the fun and well intentioned intern.

This sort of possessive behavior would have Maria up a wall if it was anyone else, but aside from a deadly resume, her field suits, and her custom weapons, Natasha had never really had something of her own. Much less something of her own that she cared about and actually cared about her as well.

"It’s her default, Nat. When she feels intimidated or when you give her food she flirts! She just does! Like you love fuzzy socks. She’s happy with Sam! I mean she loves us, but the man takes her flying. And no, you can not send her flying for flirting with me" says Maria, trying to cover every possible angle.

Natasha stops struggling beneath her and sighs. The two rest for a moment.

"Maria, are you retaining water? You seem extra heavy" says Nat.

Maria hits the back of Nat’s head before getting up.

 


	34. A Color You Can Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha had the option of making her widow bites glow red, she chose blue. No, it didn't have anything to do with AD Hill's eyes. SHUT UP CLINT.

Natasha is comforted by the fact it had been one of the engineers that had asked about the color and not Tony himself.   
Her widow bites are some what of a trademark of hers and everyone knowing that the color was sentimental in meaning rather than threatening sort of defeated the purpose.

But from the moment she’d been brought to SHIELD those blue eyes of Commander Maria Hill had held nothing but trust. The Commander looked at her and didn’t question her every move or response. She also didn’t bother with any games. Coulson and Clint were friendly but Coulson went for evasive answers and Clint tried sly answers or responses that didn’t mean anything. Both useless and tiring. Commander Hill simply gave her straight forward answers when she could and when she couldn’t, she said so.

As things progressed, while Coulson and Sitwell would still hand her cases that any rookie could do, Hill would send her undercover.

"How do you know I’ll come back?" asked Natasha with a smirk. She’d meant it jokingly.

"You came to us because you said you were tired of running. Where else would you turn to? I’ve done my best to try and make things comfortable for you here, less utilitarian at least, it’s as much your home as it is for any of us. And I trust you" replied Maria.

It was those three last words that clinched for Natasha. Especially when they turned out to be true. It wasn’t like when Coulson had said he trusted her, and then sent Barton to shadow her. Or when Barton had trusted her with half of the mission but still tagged her with a tracker and thought she wouldn’t notice. On missions for Hill there were no shadows or trackers, simply the Commander in her ear piece every so often giving her intel and listening to Natasha’s report.

It held true through the attack on New York and then the fall of SHIELD.

While red would have made Natasha seem more threatening, blue was a color one could trust.


	35. Chapter 35

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the events of the Winter Soldier, Natasha seeks comfort from Maria. Natasha talks about her ledger and how she doesn't know what to do anymore. Cue a very protective Maria taking care of a very insecure Natasha.

"So what happens now"

The voice is Natasha’s and it’s coming from the couch in Maria’s apartment even though it was supposed to be empty.

"What do you mean?" asks Maria as she kicks off her shoes and removes her jacket.

"I’ve given Steve the information he asked for, helped Sharon move Peggy out of the camera’s eye, and testified. So now what?" asks Natasha again. Maria catches a hint of something in her voice and turns towards her.

"Well, first off I find a way to keep you safe from Red Room-" starts Maria, looking at her clasped hands. She has every intention of keeping SHIELD’s promise to her.

"Why?"

Maria looks up at the former operative. She couldn’t think that after everything, Maria would simply abandon her? That Nick would? Well, in a certain way, Maria supposes they had. Steve and Sam went after Bucky, Sharon to the CIA, Nick to parts unknown, and herself to Stark Industries. She had assumed Natasha would come to Stark Industries as well.

"Because you’re one of us! Even more so than I am! You are an Avenger and that makes you family. And not only for that reason. I consider you a close friend." Maria watches as Natasha takes that in. "Natasha, what’s bothering you?"

"SHIELD was a way to wipe out my ledger. Loki was right, it’s gushing red. Especially now that we know some of our orders were from HYDRA. How many of the marks I thought I was turning black were actually just more red? My own count is inaccurate!" says Natasha running a hand through her hair.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Natasha your own count is hard enough goal as it is. And while I’d like to think all those we’ve killed were absolutely necessary, I know that’s probably not true. But your intent was, the reason you went, the goal you set out to accomplish, to keep people safe. Even if they aren’t black marks, they have to count as some sort of penance. It does mean something" says Maria as she rests a hand on Natasha’s knee.

"But now I can’t fix it! Not without Feds or Red Room on my tail!" There’s a slight frantic edge to Natasha’s voice now and it has Maria moving to sit next to her. She knows the Children’s Hospital was brought up while Natasha was in court today.

"They don’t know everything, Natasha. Not everything was committed to paper of digitally" says Maria gently, with a hand on her shoulder.

"What are you talking about?" asks Natasha almost hesitantly. Maria knows this will either reassure her or send her running.

"Not everything you told us was recorded. The only ones who know what really happened at the hospital are Nick and me and anyone you told. It was an act of mercy, Natasha. We both now that.

There are things that no one, no matter how many times we’re deposed, or they see the actual video footage, or the amazing moments themselves and the occasional horrors that follow, even if they witnessed it themselves, there is no way they could understand how it effects us.

This chaos, this constant movement, the routine of carrying everything with you and nothing that couldn’t be abandoned at an instant, you’ve known it much longer than any of us. SHIELD is gone, but we both know the rebuild has already begun-“

"With you. The moment things went bad. You had a plan for it" says Natasha, meeting Maria’s gaze, her evaluating demeanor settling back in place.

"So did you. But I'd still be keeping SHIELD's promise to you even if it was really gone.  Just so you know, I thought Nick was dead. When I was in the hospital with you and Steve, I thought he was dead just like the both of you. Nearly wrecked the damn van with him waking up in the back on the middle of I-95" mutters Maria. Natasha looks at her for a long moment and then gives the hint of a smile before leaning into Maria’s side.

"So what do we do?" Maria smiles.

"First thing tomorrow, we get you to the Human Resources office at Stark Industries. Think you can pass a lie detector test?"


	36. Chapter 36

Natasha is sitting in the middle of Maria’s bed when it hits her. "All my stuff is here" says Natasha as she looks around her. She’s wearing one of Maria’s sleep wear sets but all of hers are in the dresser drawers next to Maria’s. Her weapons, the few she always has on her, are scattered through out the room but all within easy reach. What few possessions she values are all in this apartment since they feel more secure here than in her quarters on the carrier, and now that she thinks about it all have to do with Maria in some way.

"What?" asks Maria as she pokes her head out of the bathroom, she’s drying her hair.

"All my stuff is here"

"Well yeah, you kinda tossed it everywhere when you came to do laundry"

"My building has rats!!"

"The Black Widow is afraid of rats?"

"Blame that op in Tehran. They have rats there that weigh ten pounds. They were bigger than Liho!"

* * *

A few days later, Natasha is emptying the dishwasher and realized that she no longer had to ask where things went. Which was ridiculous because that only happened after a place became familiar.

Later that week she realized things. Like Maria always had her favorite mug washed for the next morning. The window seat was free of clutter for her to read in, unless Liho got there first in which case the cat wouldn’t budge or share.

It- - was feeling more and more like a home. Except Natasha didn’t know exactly what that was for sure. Other than a place that one was supposed to feel safe. And it wasn’t just that Maria was here. She didn’t feel a need to go through all of Maria’s things, to find out everything she could. Instead she actually looked forward to Maria revealing bits of herself to her.

* * *

Maria had been watching Natasha all week with a bemused expression. Natasha had come close to asking to move in a number of times in the past week and a half to Maria surprise. Her surprise only because she’d seen Nat’s place and all it held now was two cots and emergency supplies. Maria figured Nat had moved in about two months ago and found it funny that she thought she still needed to ask.

Every mundane home task seemed to be a sort of revelation for Nat. Laundry, stocking the fridge with groceries, washing dishes, Maria didn’t get it but to see Nat come up sentences that sounded like “I have stuff here? Why is this cosy? Is this our routine?” and then try and garble out something about staying, to which Maria replied “You always stay over it’s fine” just to frustrate Nat, was endlessly entertaining. For a day or two.

"I can help you get out of your lease you know" says Maria one afternoon. Natasha’s head snaps up from her book so fast It startles Liho.

"What?"

"Unless you plan on keeping it as a fallout shelter or secret aid station, why keep it if all your stuff is here? I mean even Liho managed to find her way here."

"Wait you mean stay here and not pay rent? Like a couple?" Maria would be offended if it wasn’t for the look on Natasha’s face that said the pieces were still coming together in her head.

"Seeing as how I own the apartment, yeah rent free and we are a couple you know. If I didn’t love you, I’d charge you rent" says Maria. She suddenly finds herself with a lapful of Natasha and she won’t be complaining anytime soon.


	37. Coffee Mate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maria may or may not have a coffee addiction, and Natasha is using that to her advantage.

Maria is a normal person.

Not civilian normal, but normal in the sense that that she’s not enhanced with genetic experimentation or serum. She also isn’t a god, have the ability to turn into a raging green giant, or a billionaire who created their own super suit. Or a carnie who is extremely gifted in combat.

She’s no slouch either, with top marks in shooting, a pilot, and a Commander as well as former Second in Command.

Point being: her coffee isn’t an addiction, it’s her way of keeping up with everything going on from the boring view point of behind an office desk.

So her coffee is oh so necessary to maintain her ability to function during conference calls and wading through reports and files.

But someone is screw with her and her coffee.

On the plus side, Natasha walks with her to the coffee shop every time she goes (she needs to get away from Tony and stretch her legs). But someone is ruining her coffee! Her coffee had been sprinkled with cinnamon. Someone had sprinkled it with chili powder. Her next cup had a shot of expresso not soy sauce. She’d added cream, not the chunky milk from the fridge that the guys had forgotten to get rid of. Sugar not salt.

It was driving her crazy.   
That is until she catches Natasha topping off her cup with decaf.

They race past Pepper, causing her papers to go flying, and Maria chases Natasha down eight flights of stairs and all the way to the park. It’s the closest thing she’s had to what her life used to be in ages, and while she loves it, she’s going to kill the Widow.

A flying tackle lands them in the grass of the nearby park six blocks away. They’re both still panting when a dad with a stroller asks if they’re okay. Natasha gives him a thumbs up and the guy moves on.

Maria doesn’t even get to ask why.

"I like spending time with you" confesses Natasha somewhat timidly.

"And you couldn’t do that without ruining my coffee?" asks Maria. Natasha’s confident grin is firmly back in place when she rolls over and holds herself up over Maria.

"That part was just me having fun."

Maria shoves her off before getting up while Natasha laughs.


	38. Advice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coulson never thought he'd see the day that Natasha Romanoff would have a crush on someone. (He also never thought he'd see when Maria Hill crushed on someone). But spies don't have crushes, that's for teenagers and children. No, they're just attracted to one another. And 'in like' - as Darcy so eloquently put it.

It’s times like these that Phil really wishes he was anyone else. He spots Victoria Hand eating a sandwich in the mess hall and goes over to sit across from her. This isn’t something he’d bring to May. She’d just laugh at him.

"Victoria! I need your help!" says Phil in what he probably thinks is a soft voice rather than a stage whisper. Victoria raises an eyebrow as she takes a sip from her drink.

"I think Natasha has a ….crush on Maria. And it’s a shared attraction, but what do I do?" asks Phil.

"Are you asking because I’m a lesbian?" asks Victoria. Had Phil not been just thrown for a loop, he would have seen her smirk and known that she was just giving him a hard time.

"I didn’t-, I wasn’t thinking about-, I—" started Phil followed by gaping. He sees Darcy and desperately flags her down.

"Hey Phil, what’s up?" asks Darcy as she sits next to him.

"Tell her about Natasha and Maria" says Phil.

"Oh, yeah. They’re in like with each other" confirms Darcy with a nod.

"In like" repeats Victoria slowly.

"Yep. It’s adorable. I’ve never seen Natasha run into so many things before" says Darcy playing with the straw in her drink.

"What kind of things?" asks Victoria. She’s beginning to wonder if she wants to know.

"Doors, tables, poles. Metal poles not Polish people" replies Darcy.

Victoria turns to Phil and says “Leave them alone” and then turns to Darcy and says “Make sure he does.”

Later, Victoria is still wondering if she should have her head examined or all the other SHIELD employees should.


End file.
